THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL
NEW MEXICO.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING ACROSS THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE...GENERALLY ALONG
AND NORTHEAST OF A RATON TO LAS VEGAS TO CLOVIS LINE. THE PRIMARY
THREATS WILL BE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AS
WELL AS LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS...ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED TORNADO CAN NOT
BE RULED OUT.

MEANWHILE...A FEW DRY THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE UPPER GILA REGION MAY
PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS UP TO 45 OR 50 MPH.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING HOURS ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THE PRIMARY THREATS ARE
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THE MAIN CONCERN
WILL BE NORTHEAST OF A RATON TO CLOVIS LINE.

ADDITIONALLY...DRY THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP IN THE SOUTHWEST AND
WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AS WELL AS THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY WHERE GUSTY
WINDS UP TO 45 OR 50 MPH ARE POSSIBLE.

By the time we had the bikes packed, there was snow sticking to the ground, but not yet the pavement. I have destroyed one camera, and had to have the replacements repaired 3 times (including the one taking foggy photos on this trip). As much as I wanted to capture photos of what we were experiencing, I couldn't risk destroying another camera. So I stowed it.

[Side note -- this day's events and my inability to photograph it inspired me to buy an Olympus 1030sw, waterproof, dustproof, shock resistant. I'm still not satisfied with the photos I'm getting with it compared to the Fuji F30 -- mostly because of inferior auto-programs and lack of manual override on the olympus, but I'm hoping I can sort that out soon.]

We pulled onto the highway, and started to climb. At times we were moving less than 10mph. Snow started sticking to the pavement. Every so often a car would fall in behind us, and we would pull off and let it pass. The road was twisty, visibility was horrible, it was cold, we were getting wet. Doesn't get any better than this.

When we did get a glimpse through the snow swirls, and fog, the views were just gorgeous. There wasn't much wind, so the heavy snow was weighting down the branches of the pine trees. We pushed on over the first pass, and somewhere between Eagle Nest and Aqua Fria, we pulled into a general store / gas station for a rest.

As we dismounted our bkes, we stared at each other for a moment. Until we each saw the other, I don't think we realized how bad it was what we were riding through. We had snow crusted into every crevasse of our gear, and a big icicle hanging down off the chin piece of the helmets.

We just bust out laughing. and went inside. If there's one image I have in my head that I really regret not being able to record, it was of LDF's expression looking at me looking at her.

Inside, it was clear that LDF was much colder than I was. . She was chattering away, and we were melting into big puddles on the floor. We appologized to the owner who was quite nice about it. They thought we were . We bought some hot coffee, , snacks, and plotted our next move.

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

We find out from the store owners that there's no way we would have been able to have ridden the forest service roads as there were 4ft drifts still blocking them at the higher elevations even before this snowstorm. Also, this weather was supposed to clear up by the end of the day. Also, we had an even higher pass to clear if we wanted to get to Taos, which we did.

I was concerned if it snowed much more, or the wet snow turned to ice, we would have to do a big reroute to get over the range, so I figured let's just take it slow, and try to get to Taos. So we geared up again, and pressed on. The second pass was just as bad of conditions as the first. But by early afternoon, we were descending into Taos, the temperature was rising, the sky was clearing, and we made it!

I set the GPS to find a laundromat, and figured we'd start by looking for the hotel nearest to that. We found the laundromat walking distance to town center, and there was a great hotel across the street.

They let us park the bikes out back.

And we unpacked,

set the tent to dry,

stripped down so we were only wearing our rain gear, and headed for the dryers with fistfulls of quarters .

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

This was probably our most challenging day of riding. The numbers don't tell the story, do they?

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

After laundry, we figured we'd walk around, maybe have a cocktail, scope out somewhere to have dinner...

Decompress.

There's snow up there, eh?

Note hot coffee... I'm still not warm yet!

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

(no, she doesn't need reading glasses, just longer arms )
Then she makes me read her the menu, and I just make stuff up, like salamander croquettes, and fried mule ear skewers, and she gets mad.

Happens every time.

But I think she likes it, because she keeps forgetting her reading glasses whenever we go out.

Eventually, we order up some warm goat cheese appetizer and adult beverages.

We decide it's a little too civilized for us for dinner, so we walk around some more to find somewhere else.

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

Thanks babe for the time you have taken to tell our story. Your way with words makes me laugh out loud as you recapture the memory so beautifully.

Thanks for all the kind words of our fellow ADV riders. Big hello to our canadian dual sport buddies that have checked in.

Anyone contemplating the TAT trip my only advice is "just do it". It's a great jounery.

LDF

Ummm.... do I know you?

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

Wow, the New York Times... imagine that. But it was closed. So we went here instead.

Oh yeah...

That's what I'm talking about...

All I remember is that we ordered different beers, and each liked the other's better and switched.

Kind of a hippie hang-out.

mmmmm.

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

We were treated to a nice sunset and sky on our walk back to the hotel.

It was hard to imagine how brutish the day had been a mere six hours previously.

This is some wild country out here.

And all said and done, we will grit our teeth take our licks, and suffer through misery and discomfort when we set ourselves up for it, or get in over our heads. No complaints. But it sure is nice to have a full stomach, take another hot shower, and tuck into clean sheets and a soft bed after a day like today.

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

Our goal was to follow forest service roads when possible through the Santa Fe national forest and the Jemez mountains, arriving in Albuquerque by evening.

That would allow us a full day (saturday) to sort gear, do a little bike maintenance, and get everything in storage before leaving sunday morning.

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

It was a beautiful morning. I wasn't quite sure what to expect in terms of pavement to dirt ratio. Given the precipitation that had fallen, and the distance we were trying to cover, I was content to keep to pavement until we got a little further south.

Not exactly suffering.

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space

__________________"I came into this game for the action, the excitement; go anywhere, travel light... get in, get out... wherever there's trouble, a man alone... Now they got the whole country sectioned off; you can't make a move without a form." --Robert De Niro as Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle in Brazil, 1985. The Mobius Tripindex | Spot tracking live 4/18-5/4/13 | AdventureLoft™ Tent Space